“I did tell her it would be weird to put our faces in there.”
“No, it’s not. She’s been like a mum to us,” Star argues, her adorable face scrunched up.
“You can take them out, Lily. We won’t be offended.”
“I will be,” Lily promises, meeting his gaze. “These are the best presents ever. Thank you. Thank you so much. I promise to treasure them forever.” She pulls Star in for a hug, since she’s close. She breathes her in, tightening her hold. “I could never forget you; either of you.”
Teagan steps up behind the sofa and leans down, rubbing her daughter’s shoulder. “It’s beautiful.”
Lily nods, then turns to me, handing me the necklace. “Can you put it on me, please?”
“Of course.” I make quick work of clipping it around her neck, and when I’m done, she sits back, twirling the locket through her fingers.
“Now, you guys can open your presents,” she tells them, grinning.
I jump up and grab the two bags they have. I hand Miah his and Star hers, before taking my place next to Lily.
“Can we open them?” Star asks.
Lily smiles. “Go ahead.”
Star rips into hers like she’s afraid someone will do it for her if she doesn’t. She pulls out a pair of pink, glitter ice skates and squeals. “These are amazing,” she screeches.
“Be careful with them,” Teagan warns, gently taking them from her hands as Star goes to hug Lily, and then me.
Miah shifts uncomfortably as he tears open his, gasping when he sees what’s in the box. “Fucking hell.”
“Language,” every adult but Max scolds.
“I-I don’t know what to say,” he breathes out, pulling at his hair. “You… I—you got me a PlayStation.”
Maddox suddenly groans. “I knew being around the Hayes’ would turn you into one of them. A PlayStation, really?”
“I’m a Hayes now,” Lily reminds him.
He snorts. “You’ll always be Lily Carter.”
“Shut up,” I retort, before turning back to Miah. “You wouldn’t tell us what you wanted and then we heard you talking about the console.”
“Oh my God, I got a Kindle,” Star yells, before diving to the next present. “This is so much stuff.”
I laugh as she begins to put on her new slippers. We didn’t go overboard with them, or at least, I tried not to. Lily is the reason either of them have clothes, although Miah has vouchers.
Lost in Star opening her presents, I don’t see Miah stand until he’s in front of us. “Thank you. For everything. Not just these,” he tells us, and shocking me further, he leans down, wrapping his arms around Lily’s neck. “Thank you for coming into our lives.”
She bursts into tears, clutching him tighter. “T-thank you for coming i-into m-mine.”
His eyes are glassy as he pulls back, and as he moves back over to where his presents are, he doesn’t meet anyone else’s gaze. I wrap my arm around Lily, pulling her against my chest as we watch them open the rest of their presents. She finally calms down a little as Max hands Miah the present he bought him.
“Don’t say I never got you anything,” Max tells him.
“Oh God, no,” Lake breathes out, holding up a bag. “His present is here. What did you do?”
Max shrugs. “He doesn’t need any more bloody bathroom sets or socks.”
Keeping a wary eye on Max, Miah opens the present, his face turning beet red as the contents fall to the floor.
“Fucking hell,” I choke out, banging my fist against my chest.
“Please tell me you didn’t get a teenager three boxes of condoms,” Lake warns, her eyes narrowed on her husband.
“No, one of them is lube,” Max explains, glancing at his wife like she’s crazy.
“Is that a cock ring?” I ask, then duck my face into Lily’s neck when every female turns and glares at me.
“Max,” Lily scolds. “Blanche is going to kill me. She’s never going to let me see him again.”
“He’s a teenager. He needs these things, or do you want him to get his girlfriend pregnant?”
“She’s not my girlfriend,” Miah yells, still beet red.
“And why the heck would you think he needs orgasm gel?” Maverick barks.
“He’s young. He probably doesn’t know what he’s doing. Put that on his fingers while he’s—”
“Do not finish that sentence,” Lake snaps, glaring at her husband.
“She’s never going to let me see him again,” Lily whimpers, as Miah rushes to shove it all back in the bag.
“What’s a sex position?” Star asks, holding up the book that had fallen next to her.
Miah makes a noise of distress as he takes it from her. “Nothing. And never speak of that again.”
She goes back to playing with the doll Lily bought her and we all turn to Max, glaring. He throws his hands up. “I just wanted the kid to be prepared.”
“Oh, like you’ve always been?” Lake scolds.
“I’m always bloody prepared, woman.”
“I can’t believe you,” she hisses, smacking her forehead. “Out of all the things you’ve done, this takes the biscuit.”
“You didn’t complain when I did it to the boys.”
“You did it to the boys?” she screeches.
He grimaces. “I guess I never told you that, huh.”
“No, you didn’t.”
Max sighs, turning to Miah. “Look, I’m just saying, be prepared. Not everyone is cut out for the dad life. My wife got lucky having me as a baby daddy. I’ve been on the ball from the get-go. Not everyone is ready for kids so young.”
Lake narrows her gaze on her husband. “You passed out and smacked your head on the counter when you found out you were going to be a father. And let’s not forget the time we found out they were triplets.”
“We aren’t talking about that,” he tells her, narrowing his gaze.
“Why, what happened?” I ask, wishing I didn’t when angry gazes come to me.
Shit!
The Carter’s really know how to give out the death glare and make people feel it.
It couldn’t have been that bad, surely.
Lake opens her mouth to reply, but Max jumps in.
“Well…”
CHAPTER SIX
MAX
My foot taps restlessly on the blue vinyl flooring. Babies scream in the waiting area, their pregnant mums chattering over one another, talking about the most revolting things that us men don’t need to hear. Or need to know about. One woman just finished telling another woman how badly she teared during her last delivery. The woman couldn’t poo without feeling like she was giving birth again.
I really didn’t need to hear that shit.
There’s a buzz in the air, and it only grows louder with my anxiety. I scrub a hand down my face, wondering how we got to this point.
Well, I know how it happened, just not how, how.
We are so young and have our whole lives ahead of us. Adding a baby into it wasn’t a part of the plan. We are happy, or at least, I think we are. But a baby… I still can’t wrap my mind around it. We’ve never really talked about it either, not seriously anyway. Kids were never brought up in conversations.